Soul Peace
by Rowan Law
Summary: Khansama never thought she would be the target for being dragon-snatched. Well, hardly anyone thinks that they'll be the target for kidnapping, but the day has come that Khansama finds herself in one such situation. Who is Karone, and what in tarnation does he want with Khansama?
1. The Black Dragon

**Disclaimer: Dragon Cave is copyright to TJ09 and the dragon breeds and art are copyright to TJ and their respective artists. The characters portrayed in the following story are works of fiction and are not guaranteed to always follow the DC descriptions of dragons.  
**_Note: I've discovered a new fascination with the recent release of the Soulpeace dragons in Dragon Cave, and one of my dragons on my scroll was buggering at me to write her a story about her. I hope you enjoy it, normal readers and Dragon Cave players alike. I'm RowanLaw on if you wanna look me and my beauties up sometime. :)_

* * *

**Chapter One  
****_The Black Dragon_**

_"Quark!"_ Khansama exclaimed once more in complaint about the black claw wrapped around her neck. She ceased her vicious scratching at the claw some time ago because it wearied her without achieving any results. She settled for clinging to the talon with her legs, balling herself up against the wind that ruffled the feathers on her wings. Her long, slender tail twitched back and forth in the wind, rippling like a snake.

Not too long ago, Khansama was sunbathing on some rocks near her parents' cave, enjoying the feeling of warmth and calm, out of sight from the world. Her thoughts drifted somewhat, although she was always wary of her thoughts being accidentally influenced by her mother.

She began to doze off one moment, and the next she found herself accosted by a large black dragon, easily four or five times her size. When she first saw it, she noted its broad muzzle, indicating a male instead of a female dragon. Khansama couldn't scrabble off her perch fast enough before he swept down and snagged her with his paw, taking off before she could even manage out a screech. When she overcame her shock enough to do so, she found magic holding at her muzzle, preventing her from releasing any sort of sound. She attacked at his foot, scratching up his black paw and white talons in a futile attempt to escape, but he didn't take any notice.

His claws encased her whole neck, his white talons overlapping on her neck. His large size would seem to indicate that he was old, and therefore wise. Her mind was having troubles trying to come up with a reason for him to snatch her up so abruptly from her nest. It didn't make sense, even if he was of a more warrior like breed.

Judging by the sun, Khansama thought they flew for several hours. However, their path was towards the sun; the sunset was probably delayed by some time, thus making her time predictions nearly moot. She didn't feel tiredness creeping beneath her scales, so she knew their travel time couldn't be all that long. Even if she could go without sleep for some time- not that she preferred to do it that way. However, she didn't see herself falling asleep any time here soon.

The landscape beneath them kept changing, only adding to her bewilderment of their location. In the middle of their flight, her vision blackened by magical means, effectively cutting off hopes of memorizing the route to their destination. The black dragon clearly knew what he was doing, and he wasn't taking chances. That was about the time that she stopped wasting her energy trying to pry herself out of his grasp. Instead, she just clung to his claws, shivering a little from the wind that was blasting about in her wings, which previously mimicked a small bird being caught by a hawk.

Khansama's attention perked up when she noticed that their velocity was decreasing by a significant amount, his wings beating lazily against the wind. She shifted her hind legs slightly, a cramp growing down her spine. She looked around a bit at where the surroundings, and noted that the area around them had become more tree-filled, with a bit of mountainous terrain jutting out a bit ahead. They flew down towards the mountain area, their speed slowing with their descent. She flapped her wings a bit in interest, shifting slightly in his claw to scan the side of the mountain. She could spot several places that would make decent caves if she were to travel this way.

A few minutes later, the black dragon slowed even further, flapping backwards as he came down for a landing on the crest of a cave, landing on his three free claws. Khansama gave another little quark noise of discomfort upon landing, gravity pulling her down against her captor's claw despite the obvious attempt at a soft landing. Her tail reached the ground, and she swished it back and forth a bit, feeling the cold, stony surface. The black dragon shuffled inside awkwardly, then set Khansama down carefully. She stumbled a bit for a moment, before regaining her feet and turning to look up at him. Bright green eyes shone down at her, plastered on an impassive face.

"Why did you kidnap me?" Khansama quarked out in a slightly trembling voice, her wings quivering slightly, tail pulled close.

There was silence from the large black dragon, and after a moment, he stalked off to the back of his cave, where a treasure hoard laid piled. He hopped on top of it, nearly matching it in size, and then laid his head down, giving a brief glance to Khansama before closing his eyes, and seemingly falling asleep. She stared at him for a minute, bewildered. Then she looked over at the cave opening, and padded over to it. If he was just going to go to sleep, she wouldn't spend her time lollygagging. She opened her wings, nearly running towards the opening. She jumped-

-And then was promptly thrown back to the ground by a force field of magic. She gave a quark of irritation more than pain, though her back was a bit sore from her landing. A bit of prodding at the field told her she wouldn't be leaving anytime soon unless she learned black dragon magic, and she deflated, sulking. She sat down on her haunches, glaring at the black dragon. He kidnapped her to a cave, and then just went to sleep? What kind of dragon did that?

She was restless though, so sitting on the ground didn't last for very long. Soon she was pacing next to the opening, claws clicking against the stone floor rhythmically as she tried to figure out why she was in this particular predicament. During her pacing, she glanced over at the black dragon, and noticed that his size had diminished dramatically, making him only one and a half times or twice her size. So, he his incredible size had been through a spell? She gave a snort, feeling cheated.

A trilling noise caught her attention, and her head turned towards the sound. It was coming from deeper inside the cavern. Curiosity overwhelmed her, and she crept past the black dragon, deeper into his cave. Some moments later, she heard the patter of four little paws, and then a little ochredrake dragon appeared, looking excited.

It was three or four feet long from its nose to its tail, and a beautiful sandy color. Dark brown antlers curved up from its head, its right one split into two, its left one completely straight. Its muzzle was a lighter brown than the rest of its body. Small wings extended from its body as it skittered across the ground, running all the way down its tail.

It saw Khansama, and it danced a little, bounding forward some, coming closer to her. She gave a pleased hum, and the ochredrake trilled happily, coming close enough to wind itself between her legs. She picked up one front paw as she watched it rub against her legs, then came back to her front, looking for attention. She sat down on her hind legs, scratching beneath its horns. It made some more trilling noises, then pressed closer to her, and soon she found herself scratching all over its body. It soon fell asleep, giving little chirps like the purrs of a cat. She continued to lightly stroke down its scales with her paws.

She sighed, then laid down next to the little ochredrake, resting her head on her front paws. The ochredrake shifted, then rolled closer to her body, leaching from her warmth. She lifted a wing, draping it over the smaller dragon, then closed her eyes, trying to ignore the horrible day's events. She was tired from it all. She didn't think she would be able to sleep without her personal nest and on cold stone, but she managed it soon enough, thoughts drifting into oblivion.


	2. He Speaks

_Note: This chapter is dedicated to my elder sister who at first named the black dragon as "Carbon". _

* * *

**Chapter Two  
**_**He Speaks**_

Khansama awoke to the small ochredrake dragon pouncing on the feathers of her left wing. She had stretched her wings out in the middle of her sleep, it seemed. She winced at the tiny claws on the ochredrake's paws scratching into her, and gently flexed her wings. With an excited trill, the ochredrake rolled off her and to the ground. She breathed a sigh at being awake; her whole body seemed to ache, and she felt tired beyond belief.

She moved her limbs beneath her, and then gave a stretch, her tail rising into the air with a curl, her wings elongating to their fullest extent. She detected several bones cracking as she did so, more than likely due to sleeping on the stone. She moved her neck around to look at the black dragon still sleeping on his hoard. She dropped her tail with a loud, satisfying slap on the ground while sitting down and pulling in her wings as the ochredrake came over to her, once more seeking attention. It pushed its head against her claws on the ground, rubbing its horns against her leg.

Khansama snorted out in amusement, then raised her right paw to run her claws across its scales. It trilled with delight, its wings fluttering as it turned around in a circle like a cat. She hummed softly.

"I see you've met Raf'tarn." Khansama jumped, whirling around to see the black dragon was awake as well, his green eyes gazing at her unblinkingly. He had moved from his hoard to sitting on the ground, so silently that she hadn't heard him.

"He's- he's a nice ochredrake," she replied, her eyes darting from his face to the ground. Raf'tarn skittered past Khansama to the black dragon, winding himself in between the black dragon's front paws, and looking up at the larger dragon adoringly.

He couldn't be so bad if his ochredrake looked at him like that, could he? Khansama looked up at him again as he pushed Raf'tarn off to the side. The little brown dragon, undeterred, pounced on a golden feather, apparently fallen from one of Khansama's wings.

"Annoying at times," the black dragon replied in his rumbling voice.

After a moment, Khansama worked up the courage to ask him her more pressing questions. "Who are you? Why did you kidnap me?"

The black dragon captivated her gaze as she looked up at him again. "Karone." He got smoothly to his feet, turning away. "I'm going out."

Khansama blinked. "And just- just leave me here?" She asked, almost insulted. He was doing it again- kidnapping her, and then just ignoring her.

He stalked to the edge of the ledge outside his cave, and Khansama watched him. "Yes," he replied while raising his wings and pushing off with powerful hind legs. Raf'tarn whined at the receding form of Karone, skittering back and forth in front of the barrier that kept Khansama inside.

She let out a huff of irritated air, looking around the cave. What was she to do now? She paced to the very back of the cave, which wasn't actually all that far, and then back to the front. She sat, testing the barrier with a paw. It wouldn't budge. She sighed, resting her head against it. Freedom was so close, yet so far away.

She sat up, narrowing her eyes at the barrier. She reached down inside herself, pulling at her magic. If she had to describe it, it would be like flexing a muscle located near her heart, and it filled her with warmth when she exercised it. When she closed her eyes, she could see it like a shining, beautiful white light in the dark, with tendrils feeling outwards from it. She pulled on a few threads, and opened her eyes, which could now see the bright green magic from the barrier, spreading across the whole cave opening. Taking the white threads, she pushed them against the barrier, with the intent to break through.

A moment later, she found herself rolling backwards as if attacked by something. Using her wings to stop her from rolling further, she scrambled to her feet, heart racing as she scanned across the barrier. She wasn't using her magic sight anymore; her concentration wasn't good enough to keep it through such excitement. She narrowed her eyes at the barrier, huffing out in frustration. Raf'tarn watched her curiously as she returned to it, sitting down again as she repeated the process.

She gave a growl of frustration as she hit the ground again at her use of magic on the barrier, returning to her feet. She ruffled her wings her wings in irritation, pacing around in a circle for a moment before settling down, laying her head on her paws while glaring balefully at the only entrance and exit to the cave.

Boredom set in quickly, and she stood up again, pacing back and forth. She glanced at Karone's treasure hoard, and she crept towards it. She had never seen an actual hoard before; the dragons she grew up around didn't need one. That was to say, White, Daydream and Soulpeace dragons didn't need one. Actually, she heard that most dragons didn't need one; just some species seemed to have a greater longing for one.

She pawed at the gold coins at the edge of it. They were so... shiny. She poked her nose into it, nuzzling away coins to find interesting things. There was a crown, sheathed swords, all sorts of human jewelry, silver armor, big colorful gems, chalices, plates... there was all sorts of stuff. For some reason, Khansama found great joy in sorting through the hoard. It was just all so pretty. She climbed up on top of the pile, raking her paws through it curiously. She hummed with delight as she found a human book, and she carefully picked it up out of the pile with her teeth. She dropped it on top of the pile, delicately flipping it open to the first page.

She'd seen a human book before; she even knew how to read common. Her father taught her how to when she was younger. Knowledge was valued greatly among her kind- even that of the humans whom dragons tended to have very little interaction with. Humans didn't often venture into dragon territory, and when they did... it didn't always go well for them. Often they came for things called 'quests', or for great treasure from dragon hoards such as the one Khansama laid on top of.

Often it didn't go over well when dragons entered into human territory either, come to think of it. It certainly seemed better to keep the two races separate.

_The tales of Glynn Porter,_ she read, slowly. She knew how to read, but she wasn't very proficient at it._ Chapter one._ It seemed to be a fiction book about a young human girl. She curled up around it, continuing to read it. She sighed with content.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Khansama startled awake, gold coins shifting beneath her, like a cascade of water. She saw Karone had returned, right before she tipped off his hoard, tumbling until she came to a stop right in front of him.

"I was j-just reading a b-book," she stammered as he loomed over her, scrambling to get her feet beneath her as she backed up into his pile, coins sliding beneath her. "I've never s-s-seen such a large hoard before."

"Never seen any, I take it," Karone said, moving off to the side to climb on top of the hoard. She watched him, turning with jerking motions as he looked down at the book she'd been reading. "Glynn Porter. Not the smartest human I've read about." He looked up at her, sliding back down the gold coins. He padded slowly to the barrier, no doubt examining it. He could probably the place of her feeble break-through attempt. "Good to see you found something to keep you entertained."

"Where did you go?" She asked from behind him, encouraged by the fact that he wasn't angry at her for being on his hoard. Or at least, he didn't *sound* angry.

"To see someone." He raised his black, white-taloned paw, tapping the barrier. "Healing magic is your forte, not breaking other magic spells."

She ducked her head in embarrassment. "I wasn't exactly raised to break free of a kidnapper's clutches," she muttered.

His ears twitched in amusement, but as he turned his eyes on her, his manner was clearly sober and deadly serious. "You shouldn't try to escape. It will only bring... consequences."

Her wings quivered slightly at the underlying threat in his tone. "What s-sort of consequences?"

Raf'tarn suddenly decided to land on Karone's head, interrupting the bigger dragon's hard gaze on Khansama. The black dragon started, shaking the little ochredrake off of his head, and Khansama hummed quietly in a stuttering way, which, you see, would be synonymous to a human giggling. Karone's tail twitched as he detached his ochredrake from his head, setting him on the ground with a single paw. The little brown dragon bounced happily over to Khansama, chirping at her as if to tell her what he just did. She stroked down his spine, her eyes filled with mirth.

Karone glared at the small dragon from across the cave. "Just don't, and you won't have to find out," he replied to Khansama.

"So what am I suppose to do all day then?" She questioned.

"Stay in the cave. Don't try to escape. Don't think about suicide either. And eat." He flicked his tail, motioning to a pile of green plants and bright fruits that Khansama hadn't noticed before, piled just within. "As I'm sure you're hungry by now."

"What if I get bored?"

Karone's ears twitched again. "I think that's the least of your concerns."

Khansama's tail drooped in disappointment, her gaze finding its way to the floor. "I see."

He considered her for a moment, then looked towards his hoard. "I have some books I could find for you."

She perked up, eyes brightening. "Really?"

"Yes. Glynn Porter is one of the few books I have. Eat your breakfast and I shall find them for you."

Karone watched her as she crept over to the pile of comestibles as if it might bite her, then went to do as he had told her.


	3. The Human

**Chapter Three  
****_The Human_**

A small scuffle from the cave entrance drew Khansama out of the book she was reading, and she was about to look at the source of the noise when a thought ran into her head. Her back was to the cave entrance, resting her head on her paws as she laid curled up in a small nest of gold treasures. It was separate to Karone's main hoard- she had decided on the third day that she wouldn't be sleeping on the ground again, and then siphoned off some of his trove, creating a nest for herself. It amused Karone to see her sleeping upon part of his treasure when he returned to the cavern.

Khansama continued to lie motionless; it would appear as if she were sleeping to an observer from the cave entrance. Karone was always silent when he did anything- whoever it was attempting to sneak into the cave, it wasn't him. Her small, yellow ears twitched as she became aware of the sounds of soft footsteps creeping inside. It sounded bipedal- possibly a wyvern?

Raf'tarn made his move before Khansama did, chirping with excitement as he skittered across the cave floor. There was a yelp, and Raf'tarn trilled in excitement. Something metal fell sliding against the ground, followed by a body hitting the floor. "Oof- agh, get off of me!" Khansama heard someone exclaim, the sound echoing in the cave. Dragons didn't speak like that, but rather through telepathy instead of orally spoken.

With some amount of confusion, Khansama raised herself, turning to examine the source of her curiosity and confusion. What she saw shocked her.

Beneath the small brown dragon laid something only slightly larger, a being with four flailing limbs- a human. She stared in shock for a moment as the human maneuvered out from beneath the ochredrake, pushing the trilling dragon away. It got up- she couldn't discern if it was male or female-, and laid eyes on Khansama.

The first human Khansama had ever seen was standing before her now. It was maybe five and a half feet tall, with long brown hair pulled away from its face. Its eyes were wide, white showing around blue irises with small pupils in the middle. Some sort of cloth covered its torso and legs, a leathery substance on its feet. Its arms were bare and the same color as its face, a paw attached to the end of each one, five slender appendages growing out from each one. They were empty of claws, only capped partially with clear, shiny nails. It was a bit curvaceous, the torso rounding out next to its upper arms, proceeding to turn in, then another outward curve, and then down its legs.

It stumbled back, and went to retrieve a shining sword lying just beyond the barrier. It gave another yelp as it ran into the barrier, and it stumbled back, holding its head.

Khansama reached out to find the human's mind. Since it spoke out loud, she assumed that it didn't use telepathy. She found the small source of life, and sent her speech towards the human. Khansama found with surprise that it was actually a female. "There's a barrier," Khansama said to the human, watching her with bright eyes as she jumped in shock and whirled towards Khansama at the sound inside her head.

"Let me out!" She demanded of Khansama, pressing closer to the barrier, her voice wavering a bit.

Khansama settled back down on the gold coins, eyes sweeping over the human female. "You were not wise in entering this cave."

"You can't keep me here," the human said, a small tremble starting up in her. Raf'tarn pushed his head against her hand, and she jumped away from the contact, eyes wild.

"I can't. Karone can," Khansama replied with a sigh, lowering her head on her paws. With the prolonged telepathic communication, Khansama could detect that the young woman was young. She didn't know what 'young' equated to in years for a human, though.

"What do you mean?" The girl asked, her hands flattened against the barrier. "Who's Karone?"

"The dragon that kidnapped me five days ago," Khansama said. "You are in no danger from me. Or Raf'tarn," she added as the ochredrake attempted once more to make friends. The girl looked down hesitantly at Raf'tarn, then raised a hand to pet his head in between his horns. He chirped happily, sitting down as his tail swept back and forth across the ground.

"Where is this Karone?" The girl asked, glancing around the cave.

"Out," Khansama replied with another sigh. "He goes 'out' for most of the day everyday."

"And just... leaves you here?" She asked, her tone laced with both fear, suspicion, and sympathy. She continued to stroke Raf'tarn.

"Exactly what I said." Khansama shifted, then introduced herself. "My name is Khansama."

The girl's lips pressed together for a minute, then she said, "I'm Rowan."

Khansama noticed some discolored lines on Rowan's forearms. "Let me see your arms," she said to the human. Rowan looked confused, but complied, raising her free arm (the other being occupied keeping Raf'tarn appeased), showing the red lines more clearly. There were also places of black and yellowish discoloration. "Are those wounds?"

Rowan nodded slowly. "Why?"

Khansama got to her feet, starting to pad to the girl. Rowan tensed, her feet shifting beneath her as she watched Khansama warily. "Do not be afraid," Khansama said soothingly as she approached. Rowan allowed her to come near, craning her neck to keep watch of Khansama's face.

"What are you doing?" Rowan asked as Khansama bent her head down to touch the top of Rowan's head with her muzzle.

Khansama didn't reply as she closed her eyes, pulling at her pure white magic. She opened her eyes again, this time seeing the magic dimension. The green glow from the barrier was bright in her sight as she looked down at Rowan's wounds. She willed her magic to tendril around the wounds, and they slowly closed up and disappeared, along with the bruising.

Khansama lifted her head when she was done, and Rowan looked down at her arms in amazement. "How did you..." she started, looking up with wonder.

"Magic," Khansama replied, amused.


End file.
